“On receiving the sad news of the death of your dear brother, His Excellency Mister Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, former president of the State Council and of the Government of the Republic of Cuba, I express my sentiments of sorrow to Your Excellency and other family members of the deceased dignitary, as well as to the people of this beloved nation,” he wrote.

The pope added: “At the same time, I offer prayers to the Lord for his repose and I entrust the whole Cuban people to the maternal intercession of our Lady of the Charity of El Cobre, patroness of this country.”

Castro had been baptized when he was a child, and taught by the same Jesuit order the pope belongs, Breitbart reported.

Still, Castro was a self-proclaimed atheist who left behind a legacy of killing and murder of those who disagreed with him politically.